As a result of recent advances in polarization-related technologies, polarization-based 3-D systems are rapidly becoming the most popular 3-D systems for motion pictures. The use of polarized 3-D projection is more common largely because it is much cheaper to provide polarized glasses to viewers. 3-D polarized projection uses dual complementary polarizing elements that either emit, transmit or reflect (via a polarization preserving screen) images comprised of polarized light, to each eye. The light to each eye is selected via corresponding complementarily polarized lenses in the viewer's glasses, to produce distinct images to each eye, giving the effect of stereoscopic vision and hence the illusion of depth in the projected image.
One significant challenge in 3-D polarized projection is crosstalk between image channels. That is, part of the image intended for one eye bleeds or leaks through to the other eye, thus diminishing the image quality. Cross-talk in 3-D polarized projection systems generally occurs due to imperfections in the polarization and selection process.